What's your opinion of Knol?

[Kevin]

Googles new article site Knol (http://knol.google.com) has caused a lot of debate in the last week. The main problem is that Google are now entering the content market, something which makes them compete against other webmasters and something which they have previously said on many occasions they won't do.

Here are some articles from the last few days which have discussed this :)

Is Google Crossing the Line with Knol? (http://www.dailyblogtips.com/is-google-crossing-the-line-with-knol/#comment-555311)


Google Knol - Google's Latest Attack on Copyright (http://www.seobook.com/google-knol)


Google’s Knol - A Wikipedia Killer or a Blog Killer? (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/07/24/googles-knol-a-wikipedia-killer-or-a-blog-killer/)


What do you think? Is this an area which Google should be looking to get involved in?

[sarahG]

First thought is that it reminds me of About.com. As for whether they should do it, I think Wikipedia covers more than enough, About.com is still running (albeit most of it is out of date these days), so do we really need another site like this? Especially as you can expect that if this site has something remotely connected to what you're searching on it'll be first in the results.

Then again, I use Yahoo where I get paid to search. ;)

[Kevin]

If Knol was created by another company I would applaud them as it is a good idea and it seems like it will be useful. However, the main concern is that google are going into the business of creating content. Already many seo bloggers have found that articles that are only a few days old are being listed in the SERP's higher than articles that have been there for months on established websites with authority. I don't think it's fair that google are now listing their own pages for certain topics above those of established sites.

I really think it's difficult for google to be impartial and unbiased in this situation and it doesn't look like they are even trying to be.